Patients who undergo hemodialysis or other procedures that remove solutes and fluid from the blood often die of cardiac complications. Many factors may contribute to such death, including stress placed on the heart due to the increased blood fluid volume in these patients. Increased fluid concentrations and inability to remove waste products from the blood, in some cases, can also contribute to electrolyte and pH imbalance that can affect cardiac contractility and efficiency. Further, rapid changes in fluid volume or pH or electrolyte concentration of the blood during hemodialysis or other fluid removal processes may place additional stress on the heart and may contribute to the high rate of morbidity for patients who undergo blood fluid removal procedures.
When a patient reaches a point where routine blood fluid removal procedures are prescribed, the patient undergoes periodic examinations that allow a healthcare provider to set various parameters of the blood fluid removal procedures, such as the profile of fluid removal, the composition of dialysate or replacement fluid employed, and the like. These examinations typically occur once a month in accordance with current standards of care.
Hemodialysis or similar procedures may occur three to four times a week. Thus, the patient may undergo 10 to 15 or more blood fluid removal sessions before the prescription or parameters are changed. It is possible, for example, that a prescription with regard to a dialysate electrolyte and pH buffer composition will not be appropriate for a patient several days or weeks after the prescription is set. Accordingly, it may be desirable to more frequently determine whether the electrolyte or pH concentration of a fluid used in blood fluid removal sessions is appropriate. In addition, it may be desirable to adjust the concentration or composition of the fluid during a blood fluid removal session in a manner that may improve patient health and reduce morbidity.